The Dove 2004 campaign was a step in the right direction. Not only did women get a chance to challenge standards of beauty through advertisements, but they engaged in conversations about the same in various forums. Many women are highly apprehensive about their bodies, and these insecurities often start in school.
Therefore, it was laudable that Dove sponsored self esteem workshops for school girls. The cosmetic industry’s definition is quite narrow. Therefore, the campaign was an attempt to expand this definition beyond stereotypes. The numerous photographs the company displayed in the campaign sent the message that beauty is attainable and unique to an individual.
On that basis, it was indeed reasonable for the company to pursue such a strategy. As a leading consumer products retailer, Dove has the resources and the marketing advantage to change the conversation on beauty. It can make images of female beauty a celebration of women’s diversity rather than an endorsement of one narrow representation of the same.
Critics affirm that Dove has no right to use moral marketing because some of their products contradict this message. For instance, the organization sells anti-wrinkle cream, yet its advertisements try to pass old women as beautiful and acceptable. Furthermore, it retouched the so-called real women that were involved in the campaign.
The question one must ask is whether women should keep buying beauty products from conventional advertisers, who contribute towards unrealistic standards of beauty, or buy them from those that embrace non stereotypical beauty. Women want consumer products to enhance their beauty. Sometimes this may involve eradication of spots or wrinkles.
Therefore, critics should not crucify Dove for this. After all, it is a for-profit organization that must sell products. It is quite possible for a company to market itself as an ethical one. Once the idea is entrenched in people’s minds, then customers would purchase Dove’s products.
The organization can tackle some of the negative fallout from the campaign by playing by its own rules. If it is criticizing other organizations for retouching their models, then it should not do the same; all models must be completely natural. Furthermore, the company should not just promote self esteem in North America and do the opposite in other countries. Dove’s real beauty campaign must be in tandem with other messages that it is spreading around the world.
Campaign critique
The first impression
The first impression of the material was that it was different – even defiant. The nude images of unconventionally attractive women were quite arresting. One immediately wants to know what the advertisements are about. Clearly, when it comes to attention-grabbing, this campaign was on point. Other than that, they seem to be saying something different from conventional advertisers.
They are not causing self doubt among women by displaying impossible ideals. At surface value, the campaign seems brave and noble. The viral videos that feature teenagers and how they feel about their bodies are also quite extraordinary. Some of the girls felt skinny, yet their features were nowhere close to that characteristic (Dove, n.d.).
Others discussed how difficult it was to feel beautiful because their classmates criticized them for whatever quality they possessed; be it thin or fat. The honesty in the mini features was admirable and something refreshing from the beauty industry. In fact, their comments were quite relatable to most women.
Strengths and weaknesses of the campaign
The key strength of the campaign is that it uses naturally-shaped models. They seem to be having fun, and are sending the message that they have embraced who they are.
Marketing of beauty products aims to cause anxiety while this promotion appears to dissipate it. It is laudable that the firm involved a diverse array of women. Some were black and others white; it had old and young models too. The company stretched the limits with regard to self esteem by offering women an alternative to conventional definitions of beauty (Dove Canada, n.d.).
One of the obvious weaknesses of the campaign is that some of the women in the campaign appear air brushed. While most of them were curvy women, none of them had stretch marks, spots or wrinkles. One would also argue that the advertisement was objectifying women by displaying them in their underwear.
Critics would campaign if typical, skinny women were posing in their inner ware. However, the same is not always true for slightly unattractive women. It is also hypocritical that the company is selling firming lotion in the campaign yet it is asking women to accept who they are.
Rating the campaign
Since the campaign reached a wide audience and was responsible for sales increases of up to $500 million, then one can assert that it was highly successful. However, the controversy and the negative backlash in 2007 and 2010 neutralized these gains substantially. In 2007, renowned digital photographer Pascal Dangin revealed that the pictures of all the women in Dove campaign were retouched.
Additionally, in 2010, the organization made a casting call for models in the real beauty campaign. However, they were quite hypocritical about this aspect, as well, since they were very prescriptive on what they defined as a real woman. The casting call at Craig’s list wanted women who had flawless skin as well as other conventional beauty features. Individuals felt that the company was saying one thing in public and propagating the same superficialities privately.
This illustrates that the company did not simply have altruistic goals in mind. One may have to accept that the organization’s key goal is to make profits. My objection to the advert may emanate from a need to separate commercial activities from charitable ones.
However, it is possible to merge these two intentions if the audience adopts a less cynical approach (Traister, 2005). The company contributes towards a culture of positive self image while at the same sells its products. The beauty industry is inundated with images of hyper sexualized women. Any company that does the opposite is definitely a welcome entity.
Campaign creation
Market segment
The market segment for the campaign will consist of young to middle-aged women between the ages of eighteen to thirty five. This segment was selected because they are some of the most insecure consumers in the population. They frequently struggle with acceptance and self esteem in school as well as their workplaces (Mediasmarts, n.d.).
Older women tend to have accepted their bodies, so they do not need further convincing concerning how beautiful they are. The idea behind the approach is that while Dove may be selling beauty products, which change people’s appearance, it is doing so in a way that celebrates rather than shuns real beauty. The beauty industry may have a long way to go in terms of overcoming these stereotypes, but Dove is initiating this change.
The company intends on selling itself as an ethical company. The promotions will send messages to young girls that they are worth something. At the same time, the continual display of the Dove brand at the end of each promotional media campaign will cause the name to stick in people’s mind. As people head to supermarkets, then they will experience brand recall and probably purchase the company’s products.
This time, none of the models will be carefully picked. If they all seem physically attractive, then the company will be blamed for cherry picking. Additionally, non controversial products like soap will be sold in the campaign. Customers criticized the organization for selling anti-aging products in the 2004 real beauty promotion. Therefore, this time it will only focus on products that all women need as basic needs.
Media selection
The promotion will be an extension of the 2004 campaign. However, this time it will eliminate all the controversy surrounding the first attempt. First, the company will not do any retouching to make the models more attractive. In fact, the campaign will focus on natural beauty. The heart of the promotion will be a reality video that shows what real beauty is. Everything from the casting call, to the photo sessions as well as other elements of the photo shoot will be recorded.
The campaign will focus on the stories of five women who overcame great odds in life. The video will be available on YouTube as well as several partner television stations. Voices of the women will also be part of a radio station advert. After the photo shoot, Dove will spend time with these women for one full day.
When doing so, photographers will take shots of instances in which these women demonstrated real beauty. Thereafter, one photo will be selected for a billboard and it will be a non-altered version of the person in the interview (Feron, 2008). All the media platforms selected will end with the following phrases; Embrace your natural beauty with Dove!
It should be noted that the Dove brand will appear two times in the advertisement; at the beginning of the video and at the end. The beginning will have this advertisement because they will know which company is sponsoring the self esteem workshops. At the end of video, it will display the company’s name in order to imprint in customers’ minds the ethical nature of the organization’s initiative.
In keeping with earlier themes, the campaign will also entail a series of workshops that will feature high-profile speakers. These will be women who have written books about self love and acceptance. Motivational speakers who have experience in the field will also be selected for the campaign. The events will take place statewide using a road trip to market the ideas.
Material will also be available on the internet through banner ads for the workshops. These ads will be available on websites that focus on beauty. For instance, websites for skin lightening, growing long hair, smooth skin and other topics will be selected. They will target those online visitors because they probably have low self esteem.
Print media will consist of magazines and newspapers, where images of the five ladies in the campaign will be displayed.
Development of all promotional materials
The first media platform is a viral video. It will be available on YouTube, the company website a well as radio and television stations. This media platform was selected because it worked very well in 2004 since it struck a chord with most listeners. The internet as a media platform will work through banner ads with pictures of the subjects in the campaign.
Billboards will also be another platform where pictures of the women will be splashed across several streets in town. Only those places with lots of traffic will be selected for this purpose. However, because the nudity of the women in the 2004 campaign sparked off a lot of controversy, it will be best to use billboards with fully-clothed women.
Conclusion
It is likely that the new marketing campaign will yield effective results because it addresses most of the controversies in the 2004 promotion. First, no retouching, airbrushing or cherry picking will take place. Secondly, the message will be propagated across the globe. Additionally, no controversial products will be linked to the campaign. Finally, all the women will be fully clothed so as to eliminate criticism on how the campaign objectified women by displaying nude women.
References
Dove Canada. Self-Esteem Resources. Web.
Dove. Dove Evolution Video. Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Ads. Web.
Feron, G. (2008). Glen Feron – The Art of Retouching. Web.
It was reasonable for Dove to do campaign against photo-enhanced advertisements
Beauty and cosmetic producers often use photo-enhanced advertisements for their products. Photo-enhanced images deceive vulnerable potential customers who end up purchasing those products, some of whom are of low quality and standards.
Firms use photo-enhanced advertisements due to stiff competition in the industry, thus an effort to gain competitive advantage over other the competitors. Therefore, Dove intervened with the promotion trend in order to sensitise consumers on the tricks applied by producers when persuading customers to buy their products.
Dove carried out an initiative to promote all types of natural body images of women
The main objective of the campaign was to promote self-esteem in vulnerable females, easily deceived by photo-enhanced advertisements. Women care about their body images, and thus many players in the cosmetic industry use attractive images in promoting their products to women. Dove campaigns bar firms from using fake images on their product promotions as a moral obligation to protect the society from unethical businesspersons.
However, Dove is also a player in the cosmetic industry and cannot avoid using women imagery in product promotion campaigns. Most of its products are skin-firming cellulites that enhance women’s self-esteem. In order to drive the point home effectively, Dove used natural images of women in campaigns for its products. It is not possible to make consumer products and fail to exploit women because Dove exploited women in an effort to promote their self-esteem.
I would recommend Dove to continue with the campaign against abuse of women imageries in advertising. However, I would recommend Dove to change its moral approach by applying images that are pleasing to the public. Furthermore, I tend to believe that Dove prepared for criticisms that would arise against their campaigns from the beginning. Therefore, they should continue with the campaign and ignore the criticisms, but consider changing the images.
Campaign Critique
Dove used unimpressive materials in the campaign efforts. Natural images are not impressive because they disclose the physique that women try to eliminate from their bodies. In addition, the majority of women hate fat bodies and due to that element, firms opted to use thin women in their advertisements to impress the targeted consumers. However, Dove should stick to their advertising material for they are the best for carrying out the sensitisation to the women.
Strengths and weaknesses of the Dove campaigns
Strengths of the Campaign
Promotes ethics in the business – Photo-enhanced images are deceiving and thus unethical for a vendor to use them in an effort to attract customers. Dove’s campaign is ethical and beneficial to customers who often fall into traps of unethical vendors in the beauty and cosmetic industry.
It is sensitising the women whose rights are violated: The campaign is sensitising women about violation of their rights by vendors and firms that produce beauty products for economic reasons. Hence, women acquire knowledge about the types of advertisements that they should believe in before purchasing the products.
Promotes self-esteem:- Dove campaigns are for promoting the self-esteem of women who dislike their natural physique, and thus end up falling into the traps of deceiving vendors; In addition, it targets young females and encourages them to acknowledge their physical as they age.
Fights against sub-standard products: Firms producing sub-standard products take advantage of photo-enhanced advertisements in acquiring market share. Dove campaigns bar firms from taking advantage of unethical advertising methods, but rather concentrating on producing high quality products.
Promotes natural looks- By using natural images, women are inspired to appreciate their natural looks coupled with appreciating the physical appearance of their colleagues. Photo-enhanced images deter women from appreciating natural looks of their colleagues.
Weaknesses of the Campaign
Use of unimpressive images: Dove used natural images that were vulnerable to criticisms in its effort of promoting self-esteem to women. Natural images are unpleasant to the public arena although there was no alternative to bring the intended message home.
Economic impact: Effort to persuade women to acknowledge their natural physique had a negative economic impact. Players in the beauty and cosmetic industry started to count on losses after many women reduced their purchasing power on their products.
Failed to promote skin-firming products- Dove’s campaigns turned against its products as the public viewed it as a hypocrite player trying to gain market advantage over other players. There were criticisms that its campaigns were more of advertisements aimed at eliminating competitors from the market. Hence, the targeted consumers received Dove’s skin firming products with a bad attitude.
Rating of direct marketing is not an easy task, but done with regard to its effectiveness
The increase in the product’s sales volume is the ultimate measure of effectiveness of direct marketing. Percentage increase in sales volume is divided by 10 in order to obtain 1 to10 rating system, whereby 1 refers to absolute awful performance and 10 refers to great performance.
Dove needed to strengthen its campaign by two major factors into consideration
Those factors included ethics and its interests in the industry. It is unethical to display natural images that are disturbing to the public. For instance, there have been many criticisms on images of fat women displayed in the campaigns advertisements. It would be prudent for the company to consider using images that are pleasant, but natural.
In addition, Dove had economic interests in the industry, which put it under public criticisms. In order to strengthen its campaign, it should have pulled out of business and concentrated on the campaigns. Pulling out of business is a good move in the public arena and hence public would give attention to the campaigns.
Campaign Creation
Dove is a new entrant in this business of sensitising public against fake products’ advertisements. Therefore, it has no competitors in the market, but the business focuses on the promotion of ethics adherence by other businesses. Even if a firm has no competitors in the market, that is, it enjoys monopoly in the market; it has to adhere to some rules and regulations as set by the authorities in a given location.
There are four main process of the campaign creation. The first step involves identification of the problem. Dove observes that businesses persons are using photo-enhanced advertisements that deceive customers, and end up frustrating clients after failing to meet their ends.
The second step for campaign creation is the development of the solution to the problem. In this case, solution to the problem is campaign against photo-enhanced advertisements for cosmetic and beauty products. In addition, dove considers some factors before carrying out the campaign.
These factors are business ethics and the effects of the campaign. To begin with, business ethics demand that businesspersons should uphold the value of the products and honesty to their clients, which they had failed to comply with thus opting to use photo-enhanced advertisements. Therefore, dove found itself in a good position to carryout the campaign.
Secondly, dove needed to consider the effects the campaign would have to the public. The theme of the campaign was to create awareness to the public that cosmetic and beauty products do not bring the desired changes in the human skin as their advertisements dictate. Therefore, public should not rely on advertisements for information about them.
The third step is the development of the campaign. In this step, dove needed to consider the best method for the execution of the campaign depending on the nature of the target genre. In this case, the most affected clients were youthful and middle aged women and therefore decided to use natural images that would strike them hard.
In addition, it noted that photo-enhanced images were of skinny sized women and decided to incorporate fat women. In addition, dove identified the best method of campaign as advertisements in the televisions and billboards along the major highways and city streets.
The fourth step is execution of the campaign and evaluation of effects on the public. Initially, the public cannot welcome this new form of advertising because natural images are disgusting to the eyes of the public. However, dove prepared for criticisms from both the public and the businesspersons after which the public would react depending on how it responded to the criticisms.
Over the last couple of decades, the internet rapidly began to gain popularity and attract more and more users. As a result, it quickly became one of the leading media employed for business, marketing, and shopping. Today, each company or organization that claims to be successful and progressive relies on the internet as the means to strengthen their brand reputation, to attract new clients and workers, promote goods and services, and communicate with their target audience.
For the marketers from all around the planet, the World Wide Web provides a huge field for the competition aimed at winning the attention and devotion of the users. Also, it carries multiple benefits for the businesses as it allows them reach their existing and potential customers in a variety of circumstances and appealing for their different characteristics. The ubiquity of the internet in the developed countries has made advertisement ever-present in the daily life of the modern individuals.
In some cases, the advertisement may be so persistent that it starts to seem as if getting under it influence is no longer optional for the contemporary consumers. This paper will focus on one of the most influential online marketing and branding campaigns that took place within the last few years – Real Beauty Sketches by Dove. The campaign video has become viral within a very short period after it was first launched.
As a result, it was recognized as the most popular online ad of 2013 (Toure, 2013). The paper will attempt to analyze the keys to the success of this campaign (its elements, mechanisms, appeal), along with providing the profile and background of the company that launched it, and its online marketing strategy and brand value overall. Further, in this paper, there will be an inclusion of two extensions of this ad campaign that could take place to make it even more popular and impactful.
Brand Profile: Dove
Ghodeswar (2008) defined a brand as a symbol “intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods or services from those of competitors” (p. 4). As a brand, Dove has quite a long history as its origins go back to the Second World War when the manufacturer of cleansing products Unilever was required to solve a problem for the US army and develop a formula for a body wash that would be easy to lather with salty sea water (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016).
Battling a persistent outcome of irritated skin, the manufacturers have eventually created a soap bar that partly consisted of moisturizing cream and was marketed as a revolutionary product that did not dry out skin after the washing procedure. This feature still remains one of the main advantages of Dove products. Initially, the soap bar was the only product of Dove, and it quickly outsold Unilever’s other similar brand Lux (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016).
From a US-based brand, Dove soon expanded internationally and is now one of the world’s leading global brands focused on beauty and personal hygiene products (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016). Eventually, Dove created more and more products and variations. Today, the brand markets facewash in a form of a soap bar, body lotions, creams, shower gels, hair care, and deodorants. The company develops the products for both women and men.
As stated on the company’s website, Dove’s vision is to promote beauty as “the source of confidence, and not anxiety” (Dove, 2016). This perspective is based on the observation that the majority of the contemporary women admit to not being fully satisfied with their appearances and willing to change how the look.
Dove’s Online Marketing
The main objective of any brand is to facilitate the connection between the consumer and the manufacturer and preserve this connection from being destroyed by the competing brands. Dove’s mission and vision are the main emphases and driving force of their online marketing strategy.
The campaigns developed and launched by Dove focus mainly on the “real beauty” as opposed to artificially created standards imposed on the modern individuals. That way, Dove presents itself as a freedom fighter of some sort that battles the stereotypes and promotes diversity, freedom, and confidence as necessary aspects of beauty.
Ever since Dove expanded into a strong competitor in the personal care products industry in the 1990s, the brand made a major emphasis on its attachment to what they refer to as “real” or natural beauty, therefore, creating an image of a brand that is easy to relate to, down to earth, and the most accessible (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016).
The three of Dove’s closest competitors, as established by Kantar Brandz listing in 2014, are Nivea and Clinique (who were ranked above), as well as Olay that showed lower popularity (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016). The overall brand value of Dove (according to the data from 2014) is 4.8 billion dollars. Expanding their range of products and attempting to penetrate new market niches, Dove had to attack the areas dominated by very strong and well-known brands.
That way, the company needed to find their points of difference to appeal to the customer segments targeted by the other product manufacturers and marketers. In response, the competitors have launched the extensions of their own making the competition even tighter and tougher.
As a result, the marketers of Dove have developed its Real Beauty Campaign that immediately made the brand one of the highest spenders in the United States in terms of advertising and marketing. For instance, as measured in 2013, Dove’s media expenditures equaled about 195 million dollars (Dove: Brand Profile, 2016). The main marketing strategy of the brand was to provide a wide range of products for a large customer base covering buyers of all ages and both sexes.
The marketing campaign targeting men is called Real Strength while that for women is Real Beauty. The latter includes several parts that were released at different periods. The focus of this paper is the campaign called real beauty Sketches that appeared in 2013. It appealed to the customer based employing strong emotions and went viral within just a few weeks becoming the brands most powerful and successful advertisement.
Real Beauty Sketches: Campaign Description
Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches features a short video (about 3 minutes long) where a well-trained forensic artist from the FBI does blind sketches of women. The artist cannot see the women, and he is guided by their self-descriptions. As soon as the first sketches of each woman are done, the artist moves on to the second ones that are based on the descriptions of the same women but by the strangers who have spoken to them for just a few minutes.
At the end of the video, each of the portrayed women is presented both of her pictures. Astonishingly, the portraits based on their self-perceptions looked harsher and less attractive, while those guided by the strangers’ descriptions were lighter and more pleasant-looking. The empowering message of the video is that modern women tend to be unreasonably critical towards their appearance and in reality they are much more beautiful than they think.
Campaign Success
The Real Beauty Sketches campaign was launched in a form of a video using YouTube and managed to earn over 55 million views within just a few weeks. It was the fourth video in Dove’s Real Beauty focus after such advertisements as Real Curves, Evolution, and Onslaught.
All of these videos targeted female audience and appealed to strong emotions connected to self-perception, personal image, social pressure created by the media driven by fixed standards of beauty, self-esteem, and anxiety related to appearance. A month after the release, Real Beauty Sketches has established a new record of 114 million views on YouTube which immediately made it the leading video advertisement in history of online marketing according to the audience response (Stampler, 2013).
Mechanisms Employed
The huge success of the video that made it exemplary for all the online marketers and advertisement creators was created due to a powerful combination of several components such as seeding strategy, shareability, excellent knowledge of the target audience, and the appeal to strong emotions.
Viral Mechanism and Shareability
For a campaign message to become viral it needs to be shared by multiple viewers within the network where it is posted (van der Lans, van Bruggen, Eliashberg, Wierenga, 2010). Real Beauty Sketches video was placed on YouTube.
In order to ensure that the video is exposed to as many viewers as possible, the marketers invested in its popularization by means of its translation into twenty-five languages and posted on all of the multiple official YouTube channels owned by Dove (Stampler, 2013).
As a result, the overall coverage of the campaign included as many as 110 countries. YouTube was chosen as the leading platform for the campaign because it provided the best opportunities for sharing and discussion. That way, a digital campaign was preferred to the TV commercial that would not be shareable, and in turn, would never become viral.
Appeal to Strong Emotions
Appeal to emotions is often used as a persuasion tool in rhetoric. Real Beauty Sketches video was carefully designed in order to address a powerful feeling that was shared by the majority of women. As noted at Dove’s official website, there is a research that proves that 90% of females around the world are dissatisfied with the way they look to a certain degree and wish to change certain aspects of their faces or bodies (Dove, 2016).
In the article “The Power of Emotional Appeals in Advertising the Influence of Concrete Versus Abstract Affect on Time-Dependent Decisions”, Bulbul and Menon (2010), explore the dependency between the impact of the emotional content of the advertisement messages and the decisions the buyers make in the long and short terms. The authors explain that appeal to emotion in marketing is opposed to the reason-based persuasion.
That way, it is possible for the advertisers to convince the consumers that certain product portrayed as associated with certain emotions can be perceived as responsible for them. This technique is successfully employed in the Real Beauty Sketches video where Dove products are associated with support and self-esteem boost in women due to the persistent and lengthy “real beauty” focus and the emotional message for the women to trust Dove is this brand appreciates them the way they are.
Judging from the immediate response of the viewers that made the video viral all over the women, the message was received by the women and effectively shared. This phenomenon was a demonstration of the short-term effect of the advertisement that resulted in the viewers’ decision to inform the others about this message.
In other words, extremely high shapreability of the video was achieved through the appeal to strong emotion to which the vast majority of the target customers could relate. In addition, the insightful nature of the message pointing out an unreasonable self-criticism that brings more harm than use to the women made the clients emotional and encouraged them to show the video to as many of their friends as possible in order to enlighten them.
Yen, Lin, and Lin (2014) discuss brands as abstract entities compiled of the consumers’ perceptions, knowledge, and emotions associated with products. Using emotions, the brands connect the product designers and the consumers. That way, the emotional aspect of brands (or brand emotions) are highly important when it comes to marketing and advertisement).
The Real Beauty campaign created by Dove is driven by a clearly outlined story and centered around the consumer searching for the points of relation combining them with the brand’s points of difference – the key elements of the emotional branding (Yen et al. 2014).
Seeding Tools
The campaign was promoted both online and offline using regular stores where Dove’s products were sold on the regular basis and its websites. As noticed by van der Lans et al. (2010), seeding is often used as a supporting measure for a viral campaign as motivating the viewers to share a video may be rather difficult and costly.
Studying the content of the massage carried in the video of Real Beauty Sketches, the marketing campaign was funded very generously, and managed to cover as many strategies as there were available, and that is why its success was so fast and impressive.
In this reference, the internet plays an important role as a means empowering every user to produce the influence much larger to what they would have without the internet. While meeting a certain number of people and telling them about particular content could take hours or even days, sharing information on social networks takes seconds and allows the individuals reach out to much larger audiences.
The Message and the Product Correlation
Viewing the campaign one may notice that neither of Dove’s products are present in it in any way. The participants do not discuss beauty products and personal care, no one even says the word “Dove”. The video carries a form of social advertisement that addressed an important and widely spread issue that distresses certain population (in this case – the women).
As a result, Forbes’ contributor Jonathan Salem Baskin (2013) wonders whether or not such campaign should be referred to as marketing as it literally has no product placement whatsoever. Interestingly, the campaign looks more like an awareness raiser than an advertisement. Baskin (2013) emphasizes that even though the Real Beauty Sketches video has become viral within just a few weeks and was viewed, discussed, and shared by millions of people, not many critics and analysts noticed its effect on the company’s sales.
Did the video actually help Dove sell its lotions, soap bars, hair products, and deodorants? How many of the viewers to whom the video seemed touching and insightful buy Dove’s personal care products because of it and not due to various coupons or discounts Dove employs for marketing? Judging from the reviews of this online campaign, the sales impact is unknown.
However, many world renowned brands have engaged in the campaigns that do not mention their product but promote some other value instead. That way, choosing the content of the campaign, Dove had to make a choice whether to go with traditional product-focused video, or to pursue alternative goals connecting them to the product.
Dove has made a choice to promote their brand as appreciative and accepting, welcoming women of diverse shapes and backgrounds and providing confidence and support. Some of its biggest marketing campaigns were directed at the issues of fixed beauty standards that destroy women’s self-image and cause their misperception of own appearances.
This step worked due to the fact that this feature is very common worldwide. Regardless of age, ethnicity, or shape, women from all around the globe tend to desire to beautify themselves or feel pressured due to some perceived inadequacies.
From the point of view of marketing, targeting a population segment based on a common trait is the key to a successful advertisement. With its Real beauty series, Dove managed to appeal to an issue shared by the vast majority of its potential customers, there for reaching out to a huge group of the population and ensuring active response to the campaign video.
Dove’s Points of Difference
In comparison to the other beauty and personal care products, those created by Dove are marketed in a very special way that makes this brand stand out. The overall focus of its marketing campaigns has shifted over years. At first, Dove body and facewash and soap bars were advertised as made with the generous addition of a nourishing cleansing cream, and this feature was emphasized as the main point of difference.
The advertisements and commercials of Dove were centered around this aspect stating that while other products dry out the skin and create the feeling of discomfort, Dove soap bars are much more gentle, caring, and provide the consumers with the impression of moisturized and soft skin.
However, starting with 2003, Dove has turned away from product-centered marketing, and began to appeal to emotion, promotion of confidence, diversity, and self-appreciation (Flagg, 2013). Dover’s Real Beauty Sketches is also made in a form of a message celebrating the individuality of each woman. In order to strengthen its uniqueness, Dove has been launching non-traditional campaigns one after the other.
For instance, some of its advertisements featured women with curvy bodies as opposed to the traditional portrayals of women on the pages of beauty magazines, and personal care products’ advertisements that featured slim models.
The other messages included women of age including them in the customer base, as usually only the young individuals are celebrated whole older people are disregarded and depowered. Dove emphasized the normality of difference, publically inviting the society to embrace diversity of forms and not to limit the concept of beauty to a narrow range of fixed standards and parameters.
Showing diverse women, Dove increased its popularity helping more women relate to the advertisements. The models in the videos and pictures no longer looked unrealistically perfect. To the contrary, Dove pointed out their differences and something a woman can and should be proud of.
Having made the emotional branding its main strategy, Dove focused on the investment into this type of image promotion. Due to the strong brand recognition and trust from the side of the consumers, Dove could limit its product lines. As a result, the brand no longer needs to win new customer base segments taking over new niches and manufacturing new products. Its brand image is maintained due to the tight social relation between the customers and the brand facilitated by the emotional branding strategy.
Is It Really Just Marketing or Is It More?
As mentioned earlier, Baskin (2013) wondered whether or not Dove’s focus on social issues disturbing women that has been in place for many years now is very different from what most brands use to promote their products. Emphasizing its responsible attitude to beauty and the consumers, Dove creates a self-image based on social activism and desire to change certain perceptions and stereotypes, reducing the pressure in order to help the women feel more comfortable being who they are and looking the way they look.
However, Baskin (2013) notes that for now, Dove’s activism does not move any further than awareness raising messages generated for the purposes of brand promotion. In other words, in reality, the brand does not do anything to enforce the actual tangible change.
Some of the recommendations as to what Dove could do to strengthen the produced social impact and truly become the social equality and justice activist include the creation of a charity fund focusing on the provision of help to women hurt by social injustice, or donation to address the existing problems, promote fairer treatment of women within Unilever as a workplace, enforce policies ensuring equality and benefits for young and single mothers (Baskin, 2013).
To sum up, the current efforts of the brand definitely make an impact generating popularity to the promotional campaigns and strengthening the emotional association of the brand with responsibility among the consumers. At the same time the Real Beauty campaign cannot be recognized as anything but marketing as it seems to be directed purely at the image creation, but not at the actual social change.
Extensions to the Campaign
Developing extensions to such creative and powerful campaigns as the real beauty Sketches is challenging because the social reach of the advertisement was huge, and so was the response. An extension would need to either maintain the effect, or carry it even further strengthening the bond between the brand and the consumers established by the campaign.
Real beauty Sketches was easy to relate for the women from all around the world because it featured average females equating them to all the other representatives of beauty and personal care product consumers. However, to make the campaign interactive, Dove could post an offer for the women willing to take part in the new campaign.
The women would have to make a purchase through the official partner of the brand that sells its products. Each consumer would be sent a special code that they would have to register on the campaign website in order to become a part of a selecting campaign that would randomly name the winner codes once a week.
The group of the owners of the named codes will be invited to take part in the Real Beauty webisode where each of them would get a professional photoshoot with a typical airbrushing for a beauty magazine, and a natural photoshoot emphasizing the real beauty of each participant. That way, the extension would combine the aspects of real Beauty Sketches video and the one called “Evolution” that appeared several years earlier.
The webisode would include the speeded up process of preparation for both shoots and the final pictures placed next to each other for the comparison: real beauty versus magazine airbrushing. The message in the end would say: “Perfect or artificial? Improved or distorted?” This campaign serves as the raiser of awareness that provides inclusion to the consumers making them a part of the advertisement.
The interactivity of the campaign ensures its communication with the buyers and also it could boost the sales encouraging the viewers to buy Dove’s products in order to take part in the campaign’s selection stage. Besides, it relates to the Real Beauty Sketches inviting average individuals to become the living demonstrations of the image and perception alterations and its effects.
The second extension would not be as interactive. It would work within the Real Beauty campaign series, but not Sketches namely. Over the last few years, there has been a discussion around the color nude, the meaning of its name, and the social implications it carries. To be more precise, the debates occurred for several different reasons, one of them was Michelle Obama’s attendance of the White House event honoring the arrival of the Prime Minister of India.
The First Lady herself looked stylish in her evening gown of a shade referred to as “nude” or “flesh” by the reviewers. The generalization in the color name caused a reaction as the pale-peachy or beige color did not match Michelle Obama’s skin tone and thus could not have been called “flesh” or “nude”.
The fact that there is no fixed shade for “nude” could become a theme for the Real Beauty extension campaign that would be done in a form of a webisode featuring several women of color trying on dresses, stockings, lingerie, and makeup items in “nude”. The video would emphasize the frustration of women whose skin tone is very different from what is widely recognized as “flesh” color. The message of this campaign could state: “Beauty is different. Do not limit it”.
The target audience for this campaign would be the women of color mostly, however, some of the participants in the video could be extremely pale individuals whose skin tone is not darker but lighter than what is known as “nude”.
That way, the advertisement would work along the lines of Real Beauty series focusing on the diversity and social bias issues and also carry a new message addressing the fixed standards of what is perceived as attractive and the pressure modern women undergo bombarded by the stereotypes that narrow down certain concepts making some groups of the population feel inadequate and forcing them to become dissatisfied with their appearances.
The key business objective for this campaign extension is to strengthen the brand reputation and recognition for the promotion of unbiased perception of beauty and responsible treatment of diverse individuals. The extension would help the brand to become more relatable. In other words, the focus of this Real beauty webisode is to maintain the association of Dove as a brand with social awareness, acceptance, support, and inclusion among diverse communities and individuals.
Conclusion
Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches is one of the loudest online marketing campaigns launched over the past few years. It is loaded with strong emotions and therefore, is in pursuit of the establishment of strong bond with the consumers as a primary objective. The advertisement does not involve any images of any products marketed by Dove as its purpose is to maintain the brand image and gain the consumers’ trust.
Focusing on social trends and issues, Dove informs its customers about its nobility, good intensions, and values higher than just financial profit. That way, instead of promoting a single product, Dove manages to promote them all at once ensuring the strong reputation of the brand as a collective symbol of its individual goods. The cleverest aspect of the campaign is its universality as it uses a feature common for the vast majority of females worldwide regardless of age, ethnicity, or shape.
Yen, H., Lin, P., & Lin, R. (2014). Emotional Product Design and Perceived Brand Emotion. International Journal of Advances In Psychology, 3(2), 59. Web.
Shower Foam Deep Moisture Foaming Body Wash by Dove has been chosen for the analysis. Its volume is 13.5 oz, and it is produced by Unilever. The generic is Total Moisturizing Body Wash with Shea Butter by Equate, which is 23.6 oz and is manufactured by Walmart. The components of the two substances are almost similar; however, the product by Dove has a foaming effect while the second product has a creamy texture. Therefore, Dove has more Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate to produce the foam.
In terms of pricing, the first product is two times more expensive than the generic product while offering twice less product. The packaging is dissimilar as the body washes by Dove has a dispenser. However, the material used to produce the bottles is the same. To differentiate themselves, brands mention their peculiar features on the packaging for the customers to observe them straight away. For instance, the product by Dove is clinically tested while the other body wash is cruelty-free and hypoallergenic, and the packaging is recyclable. To meet customer needs, the brands use a price differentiation strategy (Kerin and Hartley 113). Thus, generic products are almost similar to each other and offer the same solutions to customer needs; however, it is the task of a customer to choose whether he or she prefers branded commodities or those that are charged less but do not belong to a famous trademark.
I am loyal to Walmart products such as Equate since they are less expensive than branded goods, but they are similar in quality. The reason for this choice lies in the understanding that when purchasing such commodities, I do not have to overpay for the famous name but spend my money on the product’s content solely (Kerin and Hartley 113). The marketing strategy that this store could apply should include customer service orientation. It would help the enterprise to boost customer experience and attract more potential clients.
Work Cited
Kerin, Roger, and Steven Hartley. Marketing: The Core. McGraw-Hill Education, 2015.
Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has been started in 2004. The primary purpose of the campaign is to promote real images of women in contrast to thin and unrealistic images of models. This campaign shows that advertising is a strong communication medium that has a great impact on the attitudes and tastes, values, and choices of consumers. The campaign is based on visual communication and emotional appeal which influence perception of the message and forces information retrieval. The campaign was launched in England, the USA, and Canada as a response to declining sales caused by a saturated market and increased competition.
The purpose of the campaign
The practical purpose of the campaign is to increase sales and brand awareness. Dove is one of the top players in the body care market. However, Dove has many competitors, and thus it needs to come up with an efficient marketing tool to win a considerable share of the market (Brodbeck and Evans 2007). Even though some people might say that the images on the website are not proper, everybody will remember the company after its Campaign for Real Beauty. Besides, its target audience consists of women, and they will get attracted to the products which are claimed to make them into princesses. Every girl and woman wants to feel hot and beautiful.
The advertising strategy was chosen very carefully because the product was not new and Dove has needed a new approach to impress consumers. The campaign aims to change fashion and create a culture of meaning-affecting behavior of women and their tastes. It creates certain standards which affect priorities and buying patterns of women-consumers (Brodbeck and Evans, 2007). Many teenage girls identify themselves with their peers and ideals created by the media. In contrast, adolescent women identity and compare their self-image with successful business ladies and ideal body images of models. Fashion media has affected all spheres of our life creating special trends and markers which are accepted by the majority of society. Although, fashion became more and more risqué demanding new ways of expression and new extremes to appeal to potential consumers. Dove tries to change these traditional images and roles of women depicting the diversity of body images and ‘curves’ (Following Brachelli, 2005).
The Campaign for Real Beauty is trying to create a view of what beautiful women can enjoy every day. The Dove Company started a fundraiser for their Dove self-esteem fund to help young girls with low self-esteem and they also have collected photographs of real women for their “Million faces album” showcasing the diversity of beauty
The purpose of the campaign is to unveil false body images and help women to realize their beauty. Fashion forms social identity pf women of all ages creating and popularizing ideal body image (Brodbeck and Evans, 2007). Most fashion magazines and TV shows include information about possible services which will help potential clients to improve their appearance: nose, face, breast surgery, etc. Besides commercial purposes, Dove tries to change social images of biddy and a modern woman. From a transitional viewpoint, if a woman (despite her age) does not meet certain standards she/he can be “excluded” from social interaction. Fashion popularizes this idea depicting that ideal body and stylish clothes can make all women happier and even luckier. Social identity forces women to compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers (Gronow, 1997) have found that exposure to idealized body images and stylish clothes lowers the satisfaction of women with their attractiveness. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty changes these stereotypes of women, especially young girls and adolescents who are forced to change their appearance to meet criteria established by fashion. To some extent, fashion creates ideal self-images advertising stylish ways of life and depicting ideal body images of all ages (Brodbeck and Evans, 2007). The design of most fashion magazines is aimed to depict the differences between an ugly and ideal body which can be achieved by trendy clothes or plastic surgery (Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, 2007).
The target audience of Dove’s Campaign is women of all ages, classes, and nationalities. The slogan “real women have curves” attracts millions of women around the world promoting realistic images of the body and age differences. The purpose of images is to remind women that they are beautiful and sexy. Vivid images get fixed in people’s minds and always have a major immediate effect on the consumer (Brock et al, 1994). Practice shows that advertisements can have both a major immediate effect and minor effects the influence of which on the potential customers will take a long time. The major immediate effect can occur in the case when the company has something new to say in the advertisement (Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, 2007).
Realistic body images
Using visual images, Dove appeals to the emotions of consumers portraying “people like me” (see Appendix 1,2,3). The media involve TV commercials, the website, local and national press, billboards. All advertisements portray realistic body images, the daily lives of people, their problems, and possible solutions. Dove does not take it for granted that audiences have a high attention level (Brock et al 1994). Researchers underline that while the preceding figures may readily be categorized as symbolic portrayals of emotion, the occurrence of such symbols in social interaction is less apparent. However, one could argue that such basic expressions as smiling and frowning appear in so many contexts and so often that they have become symbols of emotion (Brock et al 1994). About the portrayal of such masking smiles advertising and news, advertisements illustrates a social situation in which such a masking smile might occur. “significant effects were found for the overall advertisement appeal, image appeal, and purchase intentions when there was congruency between consumer sensing/intuiting type and visual imagery across the four product categories tested” (Labarbera et al 1998, p. 33).
Following Wells et al (2005), it is possible to say that Dove uses visual images as a non-linguistic device to draw customers’ attention. It can be explained by the fact that advertising seldom leads to immediate purchase response, advertising’s effects must somehow be mentally stored away if they are to alter the probability of buying at a later time. In this sense, the brand image notion is an early manifestation of a multiplicity of perception, learning, or attitude theories. For instance, based on numerous visual clues (body images) and hints, Dove’s advertisements appeal rationally and emotionally to potential consumers (Brock et al 1994). “Largely intuitive creatives should be sensitized to the fact that when communicating the benefits of a given product or service, the target might consist mostly of sensors and that marketing communications are more effective when tailored to the predominant consumer type” (Labarbera et al, 33).
Realistic body images increase motivational intensity which affects three stages of the choice processes. It affects the first stage by determining the appropriate stopping rule for a brand generation. Very low levels of motivation will cause the consumer to retrieve only the most accessible brands, whereas high levels of motivation will cause the consumer to actively “search” for brands that may be less accessible (Brock et al 1994; Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty 2007). At the second and third stages, the motivational intensity will affect the number of criteria used by the consumer to consider and select brands. Low levels of motivation will favor the use of an overall attitude when it is accessible. In many cases, viewers are impressed more by visual images than by verbal messages or information announced in ads (Stevenson, 2005).
From a psychological point of view, the “unique” effect of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is explained by a conceptualization of the choice process. Following Lance and Woll (2006), it incorporates the use of previously obtained information including knowledge about brands, political events, their attributes, and attitudes. Second, it allows for the use of memory. In billboard messages, consumers generate some brand information from memory, rather than relying solely on externally available information. Accordingly, the current contents of working memory will cue, and bring to mind other associated information from long-term memory (Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, 2007). “These ads are real attention-getters—everyone’s talking about them. On that level, they’re a smashing success. Also, Dove now owns the “friend of the everywoman” angle” (Stevenson, 2005).
Consumer culture and fashion
In contrast to its competitors, Dove popularizes a particular lifestyle and consumer culture, it persuades the customer to buy their products as symbols of unique consumer culture and fashion. If motivation is high, consumers will attempt to use the most diagnostic information available, even when it takes effort to access it (Lance and Woll, 2006). Billboard advertisements are a good example of visual images which influence consumers’ choice and buying behaviors. This medium allows Dove the construction of persuasive messages that reflect the recipients’ self-concepts. Similarly, to motivational intensity, the opportunity to process information also will act to constrain the brand, attribute, or attitude information used by consumers during choice. Billboards messages are more effective to the extent that they use appeals that are designed to correspond to the self-concepts of the recipients (Brock et al, 1994). Dove uses information and images to impress viewers or remind some pleasant moments of their life. Relevant information will be further processed, whereas irrelevant information will be allowed to “fade” from working memory. This process affects the product choice and priorities of viewers, alter their previous choice and lifestyle. Commercial success came in 2005 when the company generated more than 650 million imprints (Brodbeck and Evans, 2007; Brachelli, 2005).
Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty proves that the success of the product is in many ways pre-destined by the advertising strategy which the company uses. In the modern era, using sex in advertising has become one of the most popular practices for companies. They do no longer need to attract consumers with advertising based on competitive prices or higher quality than their competitors. Instead, they use sex as a peculiar magnet that is going to attract consumers to their stores year after year. Statistical results show that the campaign is very successful: (1) it increases sales of Dove beauty products and new product lines; (2) it creates a dialog, debate, and discussion about the true meaning of beauty; (3) it attracts media; (4) and it promotes the CFRB website. Dove is involved in sponsorship and philanthropic activity. The company established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund and the Program for Aesthetics and Well-Being at Harvard University (Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, 2007, Brodbeck and Evans, 2007).
In its global advertising campaign, Dove pays special attention to publicity and philanthropy. Public relations (press releases, conferences, corporate newsletters, audio-video presentations, and the website) help Dove to inform the general public about the new product line and its benefits. In general, public relations are the marketing communications function that carries out programs designed to earn public understanding and acceptance (Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, 2007, Brodbeck and Evans, 2007). The marketing purpose of public relations activities is to achieve objectives that cannot be achieved by other means or as cheaply by other means. Dove uses public relations and panel discussions (at launch in New York, and later through partnership). In its campaigns, Dove involves such popular photographers as Elena Dorfman, Tierney Gearon, and Emily Shur. Dove supports an online photo gallery “Beyond Compare: Women Photographers on Beauty” (Brodbeck and Evans, 2007).
Conclusion
In sum, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty proves that the message plays an important role in how it is perceived and interpreted by the end consumer. Despite the company’s emphasis on natural beauty in the promotion and some disapproval, the campaign is a huge success among women of all ages and cultures. Yes, the campaign encouraged natural beauty and a free attitude to life. That is the way of thinking of many young people nowadays. The company only reflects this way of thinking and achieves huge success during it. Dove says that a woman does not have to spend plenty of time near the mirror adjusting everything: she has a natural beauty.
References
Brachelli, E. (2005). Dove’s “Real Beauty Campaign” gives public a new insight to real beauty for real women.
Brock, T. C., Clark, E. M , Stewart, D. W (1994). Attention, Attitude and Effect in Response to Advertising. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dove is a well-known producer of body cleansers and soaps and has a worldwide recognition (“Dove: Bar Body Wash” par. 1). Dove’s goods are recommended by dermatologists, as the moisturizing effect is one of the main features of the company’s products (“Dove: Bar Body Wash” par. 1). This matter differentiates Dove from its competitors and highlights that the firm’s soaps and gels belong to a high-quality product segment. In this case, a comparison and evaluation of Dove’s prices with the competitors and key defining factors are described. Furthermore, pricing strategies are evaluated to understand the principles of Dove’s marketing tactics. Finally, the conclusions are drawn to summarize the findings of the paper.
It could be said that the evaluation of the prices of rival firms of gels and soaps will affect the understanding of Dove’s positioning positively. On Walmart’s shelf, the primary competitors of Dove are Softsoap, Neutrogena, Ivory, and Aveena with the prices $2.97, $4.97, $4.02, and $6.68 respectively (“Walmart: Beauty Cleansers” par. 1). Meanwhile, the prices for Dove’s gels are higher such as $5.47 for a single item and $9.01 for a twin pack (“Walmart: Beauty Cleansers” par. 1). In this case, Dove differentiates itself from the competitors by focusing and quality and highlights its exceptional features by concentrating on premium pricing.
As for the pricing strategy, it could be said that Dove tends to combine various strategies to ensure the company’s profitability. For instance, it has a tendency to apply the basic principles of the cost-plus approach by emphasizing the importance of outweighing costs with the revenues, but it is not the main strategy of the firm (Paley 322). Currently, the majority of enterprises including Dove focuses on other factors such as supply and demand curves and consumer buying behavior (Rao 115).
This aspect underlines that the company applies the concepts of prestigious pricing, as it uses price as an instrument to create an association of high quality with the brand, and it is strongly tied to the brand and marketing campaigns (D’Antonio 187; Hoyer, McInnis, and Pieters 254). Following this approach is rational for Dove, as it has a well-established brand image, which has a positive impact on the development and maintenance of the customer’s base.
Despite the significance of prestigious pricing in Dove’s profitability, the elements of psychological pricing are present. For example, the company asks $5.47 for a single gel, which is perceived lower than the price is, and this approach makes the product more attractive to the consumers (“Walmart: Beauty Cleansers” par. 1; Paley 321).
Thus, the loss-leader pricing is not applicable in the case of Dove, as it does not tend to lower the prices to become a market leader and does not have complementary products to rely on (Paley 329). Lastly, the penetration pricing strategy is not employed by Dove since the prices are lower than competitors’ ones, and the company has extended years of operations (D’Antonio 187).
In the end, it could be said that choosing a suitable pricing strategy for the company’s success is crucial. In the context of the presented topic, the ‘shelf’ analysis revealed that Dove’s products have higher prices than the firm’s competitors. This difference is present since Dove uses a prestigious pricing strategy. It focuses on the quality of its products and ensures safety, and these aspects are the principles values of the brand. Additionally, the company uses the concepts of other marketing tactics such as psychological and cost-plus approaches, but these strategies are only a compliment to the initial mission.
Works Cited
D’Antonio, Laura. “Pricing.” Solutions: Business Problem Solving. Ed. Frank Fletcher. Abington: Routledge, 2016. 177-195. Print.
Does Dove company use an indirect or direct distribution approach? Or both?
The product under analysis is Dove Purely Pampering Coconut Milk with Jasmine Petals Body Wash. The company employs varied approaches to carry out its distribution. Hence, for instance, this product might be purchased directly from the company’s website or from some of the company’s retailers such as Walmart that offers this product along with other Dove items (Walmart par.1). Nevertheless, it should be admitted that the indirect distribution that is the one performed through retailers, is more preferred. Basing on my own experience, I am more likely to buy Dove Purely Pampering Coconut Milk at one of the nearest stores than order it from the official website.
Besides, it should be noted that the company uses a wide series of intermediaries to promote its products. The key intermediaries comprise such supermarkets as Carrefour, Walmart along with the drugstores – Müller and Rossmann. According to experts’ opinion, selling products through big chain retailers is the most efficient distribution approach that a soap manufacturer might employ. In such a manner, the company can offer its products at lower prices and eliminate numerous risks related to warehousing, transporting, etc. (Boykin par.2).
Does this company use an exclusive, intensive, or selective distribution strategy?
Analyzing the company’s distribution strategy, it might be stated that Dove sticks to the intensive type of distribution. Hence, it is commonly assumed, that a company that intensively distributes its products tries to reach its audience in as many ways as possible. As a result, it agrees upon the cooperation with various retailers and intermediaries.
Experts also point out that a company that chooses the intensive type of distribution supplies its retailers with the right to set their prices and has little control over the distribution process, unlike the company that prefers the exclusive distribution type (Chand par.10). A brief overview of the offers posted by different retailers shows that the prices for the same Dove product vary significantly. Moreover, the product might be found on numerous sites worldwide.
Thus, for example, there is a chance to purchase Dove Purely Pampering Coconut Milk with Jasmine Petals Body Wash from Walmart for 5.47 dollars (Walmart par.1). In the meantime, an online drugstore might sell the same body wash almost twice more expensively – the current price is 7.59 dollars, whereas the initial one would reach 9.09 dollars (Drugstore par.1). It shows that the company is mainly interested in distributing its production as actively as possible rather than in positioning itself as an exclusive, respectable brand.
What kind of logistical strategies does this company use for their distribution?
Dove has a well-developed logistic system that offers a wide range of services and guarantees. Hence, for instance, according to their official data, the company has worked out a special tracking system that allows the customers to remain aware of the product’s shipment status. Moreover, the analysis of their service descriptions shows two critical points. First and foremost, their logistic network is highly extended – it covers such locations as Canada, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, etc. Secondly, the system is multi-functional – it offers such services as air charters, warehousing, fulfillment, and ground services (Dove par.5).
To ensure safe and sustainable deliveries, the company uses the help of Unilever that is one of the most recognized supply chains in the world. This cooperation lets the company reach the largest number of the targeted audience possible and distribute their products under mutually beneficial conditions (Blanchard par.13).
